Joseph Quinn says he was freed from airport jail because the officer knew Eddie Munson

Although on Stranger Things outcast Eddie Munson is the go-to fall guy for any criminal offense (humanly possible or otherwise), it turns out being the actor who plays him can actually get you out of trouble. Joseph Quinn, the British actor who plays Eddie, revealed to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that the role actually got him out of a sticky situation of the airport detainment persuasion on the way to his appearance.

“I very nearly didn’t make it,” Quinn said of his journey to The Tonight Show for his talk show debut. “I was taken into, I guess what you could call it more of a dungeon. And I was asked to wait there for about 20 minutes and then I was summoned to this desk where someone asked me, ‘What are you doing in the United States, sir?’ I said, ‘I’m actually here to meet Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. And he didn’t believe me.”

Luckily for Quinn, one of his detaining officer’s coworkers was all caught up on Stranger Things’ fourth season, and recognized the actor as Eddie even without the American accent Quinn meticulously perfected. Although his colleague didn’t necessarily recognize Quinn, he was quick to stand up for the leader of the Hellfire Club and Netflix’s proposed white boy of the moment.

“One of his colleagues looked over at him, looked at me, and said: ‘Leave Eddie alone!’” Quinn said. “And then [the colleague] said, ‘It’s Eddie from Stranger Things,‘ and he was like, ‘You’re Eddie Munson?’ He asked, ‘Do you come back next season?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know,’ and he said, ‘You better,’ and gave me my passport.”

Although Quinn is a newer face in American television, he’s been working for some time in his native Britain. He has multiple credits with BBC, including principle roles in the dramas Dickensian, Howards End, and Catherine The Great. If only the airport officer had been a die-hard fan of British drama, maybe Quinn could have avoided the airport altercation altogether.